Brooklyn's Gerald Wallace and New York's Carmelo Anthony faced off during overtime of their Nov. 26 game at the new Barclays Center. The Nets beat the Knicks 96-89. Bruce Bennett, Getty Images

Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard (0) dribbles against San Antonio Spurs point guard Patty Mills (8) during third quarter of their NBA basketball game in Portland, Oregon, December 13, 2012. REUTERS/Steve Dipaola

But as Woody Allen’s character, an author, first said of his book’s protagonist, “He adored New York City. He idolized it all out of proportion.”

That’s my lone gripe about New York. The passion for everything New York-y is a ballyhooed hullaballoo of Eli Peyton Super Bowl proportions. (Or even, dare I say, a Yankees-Red Sox game.)

The media (yes, I’m in the media) do this really well.

So earlier this season, I almost went into social media hiding on MySpace to avoid the Twitter deluge of Knicks-Nets hype. Their first matchup was right around the time that Jets fan Fireman Ed said he would stop wearing his fireman hat to games, which, naturally, was international news. And so I tweeted: “Fireman Ed! Tebow! Knicks-Nets! Love the coverage — all of America totally cares about these NY-centric stories!”

But I will admit, this Brooklyn-New York basketball rivalry is getting pretty cool. It’s becoming Notorious BIG. Perhaps you might have heard about it this past week when Carmelo Anthony scored 45 points and Jason Kidd hit a game-winner and pumped his fist like Tiger Woods would after sinking a dramatic putt on No. 18.

Sure enough, there were some tweets after the Knicks’ victory. @SeanGrandePBP provided my favorite, cleverly using a “Seinfeld” reference: “Yeah … this Knicks-Nets thing? It’s real … and it’s spectacular.”

Yes, I believe I speak for most of the other 49 states when I point out the New York news can be a little much. (“Tebow Sneezes!! Also, Manning Signs With Broncos.”) But in small doses, I will take Knicks-Nets. There are some stupendous story lines — Melo’s MVP push, the new arena, both teams with winning records, Jay-Z, Beyonce, Spike Lee, uplifting victims of Hurricane Sandy, the list goes on.

And guess what? They play each other Wednesday. It’s going to be Fireman Ed big.

Noticing the Nuggets. Former NBA coach Flip Saunders had some interesting comments about the Nuggets last week on Minneapolis radio station KFAN 100.3 FM.

Said Flip: “Their biggest thing which hurt them was they got rid of Arron Afflalo, who could knock down 3s, gave them a toughness, and they brought in Andre Iguodala. But he’s really not a two, he’s more of a three. So what happened is they don’t have that solid two. I’ve never liked him as a two. I always thought he was better at a three. So they have a little bit of a logjam.”

Saunders summed up his former player, backup center JaVale McGee, quite accurately: “You’re going to see a couple highlights tonight, both good and bad. But it’ll be entertaining.”

Foreign flavor. Denver’s game at Minnesota last week featured a bevy of international players. Nuggets coach George Karl, who coached in Spain in the late 1980s, was asked if he felt an NBA team would soon hire an international head coach.

“Wow, that’s a good question,” he said. “I think that’s a big step right now, but I can’t deny that someone won’t pull that trigger, maybe an organization that wants a new face, a new script. There are some guys over there that probably have the talent. But the NBA, people don’t understand that it’s 82 games, whereas Europe and college is twice a week. There’s a psychological pattern that I think college and European and college coaches have to change when they get here.

“They probably have the brains and the talent, but it’s understanding the system. The guy I’d recommend is a guy who could be your top assistant and give him an opportunity to see if he thinks he can handle this.”

Spotlight on … Damian Lillard, PG, Trail Blazers

Years from now, when we look back at the NBA’s 2012 draft, will we say that Lillard should have been taken second? First? Of course, the Hornets’ Anthony Davis, drafted No. 1 overall, has the skills to become a superstar. But Lillard, the sixth pick, is evolving into an explosive scorer at point guard for the spunky Trail Blazers.

He made a national television splash Thursday as Portland defeated San Antonio 98-90. The rookie from Weber State scored 29 points, grabbed seven rebounds and had six assists.

“I think he’s a wonderful player,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said after the game. “His skills are obvious, but I like his demeanor as much as I like his skills. He really plays within himself, he’s not afraid of contact and he really understands how to take advantage of situations.”

Lillard entered the weekend averaging 18.9 points and 6.4 assists. He showed he can bounce back with an impact, as he followed up a lackluster nine-point game in the Blazers’ previous game, against the Raptors.

That game was surreal. Portland was 0-for-20 on 3-pointers, and won. Big. The final score was 92-74, and the Raptors were 3-for-21 from 3. One of their players, Amir Johnson, was ejected and then threw his mouthpiece.

Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge erupted for 30 points. As for his team, the Blazers were the first NBA team to shoot at least 20 3-pointers, miss them all, and win.

Benjamin Hochman was a sports columnist for The Denver Post until August 2015 before leaving for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, his hometown newspaper. Hochman previously worked for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes for its Hurricane Katrina coverage. Hochman wrote the Katrina-themed book “Fourth and New Orleans,” published in 2007.

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